The Spark is the student newspaper of the University of Reading. It is produced monthly during term time and is available as a paper edition distributed across University halls of residence, academic, and administrative buildings. The paper follows a traditional newspaper layout: the front portion of the newspaper is devoted to news issues, particularly those concerning students at the University.
History
The Spark was established in 1934 as The Shell, and varied considerably in design, style and quality with the change in the demographic of the University, the advancement in printing and editorial techniques, and the change in political orientation of the editorial team. In 1984, the newspaper changed format to a more magazine-style publication, rebranding itself as the short-lived Splat, before changing again to Spark* in 1988. Spark* reverted to a newspaper format in 1990, under the title Spark. At this point the newspaper was published weekly. In 2006, the then Reading University Students' Union President Dave Lewis took the decision to have Spark* published fortnightly, to reduce costs and to give the volunteer staff more time between issues whilst completing their degrees. This move coincided with a move to printing in full colour and the rebranding as Spark*. In recent years, The Spark has been aiming to increase the quality of the newspaper, particularly following a scathing Independent article in 2005, where a former Varsity editor described The Spark as 'about as visually appealing as a punch in the retina'. Since then, the newspaper has had a major redesign by University Typography and Graphic Communication students, and has upgraded its design software to Adobe InDesign CS3thanks to a donation by the University's annual fund.
Awards
The Spark is frequently nominated by its editorial team for the GuardianStudent Media Awards in a number of categories. 2010 was a particularly strong year for Spark*, beginning with two writers, Georgina Mills and Marcus Greenslade, winning first and second prizes respectively in Up to Speed's student journalism competition. In November 2010, The Sparks music editorKate Allen received the gong for best student writer at the Record of the Day Awards 2010, which recognise contributions to music journalism. Kate was heavily commended by The Guardians Film and Music editor, Michael Hann.
